Official Lost Podcast transcript/October 30, 2006
Lost Soul & PandoraX are responsible for this transcription. It is one in the series of the Official Lost Podcasts. ---- [Opening Lost theme] Kris White: Welcome to the Official Lost Podcast hosted by ABC.com. As promised, we’re back this week and we have executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on hand to speak about last week’s episode, “Every Man For Himself”. In true podcast tradition they will also be taking your fan questions, and talking about this week’s adventure, “The Cost of Living”, which airs Wednesday November 1st from 9-10pm. So, without further adieu, here now is your podcast squad. theme Carlton Cuse: Hello, Lost fans! This is Carlton. Damon Lindelof: Aaaand… Damon Lindelof. Carlton Cuse: How are you guys? We’re back, yes, for another podcast. Damon Lindelof: You’re assuming that everyone that is listening is in fact a LOST fan, by addressing, “Hello, LOST fans!” What if.. Carlton Cuse: How would you characterise them, our podcast listeners? Damon Lindelof: I don’t know.. Carlton Cuse: Hello, podcast listeners! Damon Lindelof: I don’t know, I’m just saying, it’s awfully assumptive… Carlton Cuse: … Bold and assumptive to say that someone’s listening to a LOST podcast because they’re a LOST fan? Damon Lindelof: Maybe they hate Lost? Carlton Cuse: And they’re… yes, that’s true, you know, well, hate and love are very closely linked, indifference is a whole other story, isn’t it? Damon Lindelof: Don’t I know it… laughs I’m sitting next to you right now. Trust me. Alrighty… Carlton Cuse: Alright, well let’s jump right in, Damon. Damon Lindelof: Let’s talk about “Every Man For Himself”, which is the title of last week’s Sawyer-centred episode. Big shout-outs to Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who wrote that particular episode, and, again, Josh Holloway did a beautiful job, acting on that. Carlton Cuse: He did. I must say, he was very good. Damon Lindelof: And a very special Stephen King shout-out, buried in that episode somewhere, which we will not reveal. Carlton Cuse: Right. Damon Lindelof: If you can guess what it is, you win a box of mixed biscuits. Donald biscuits. Carlton Cuse: I don’t think we’re actually allowed to give prizes for that, actually, you know, fulfilling, like, 39 contracts… contest rules, you know, so… Damon Lindelof: You know what I say about those rules, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: What do you say, Damon? Damon Lindelof: I say that I obey them… staunchly… because I’m an employee of the Walt Disney Corporation. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. and Damon both laugh Carlton Cuse: Alright. Damon Lindelof: Alright. Carlton Cuse: So, talk about Sawyer’s discovery, Damon, that they’re on a separate island. What implications does this have for our prisoners? Damon Lindelof: Well, Carlton, I guess the most obvious implication is that escape is not gonna be as easy as one might think. I mean, now it’s not just being in a cage, which… those cages seem relatively easy to get out of, to be honest with you, but the fact that the real prison is this little, smaller island that they’re on, it’s somewhat unsettling, so, one would imagine that is certainly intimidating for Sawyer and Kate. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. Damon Lindelof: And Jack, who doesn’t even know yet, that they’re on an island. Carlton Cuse: Hey, by the way, can we just go back to "The Glass Ballerina" for a minute? Damon Lindelof: Would… yes, please... oh, you mean the episode? Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: Sure. and Carlton laugh Carlton Cuse: Um… I think it would be a good idea for us to just clarify for the audience that Jae did commit suicide. I mean, there’s been a lot… that was one of those unintentional mysteries that we did not want to… Damon Lindelof: I don’t even know how it’s a mystery, I mean, you know, the guy gets beat up by Jin, who says, "You’re dead now," like, you know, "Leave the country," we know he’s in love with Sun, and he takes a header and lands on Jin’s car, and he’s got the pearl necklace in his hands. I mean, what kind of guy grabs on to a pearl necklace before he gets thrown out of a… Carlton Cuse: Wait, before you throw me off the building, let me get that pearl necklace. Damon Lindelof: I guess there are some… someone assumed that Sun might have thrown him off the balcony, which is even more shocking to me. Carlton Cuse: Wow. Damon Lindelof: ‘Cos I wouldn’t even know what her possible motive would be. And if he’d ripped the pearl necklace off of her neck, while she was throwing him off, certainly all the pearls would have scattered. Carlton Cuse: Exactly… well, that would be the reason, right. Damon Lindelof: Yeah, exactly. So, I’m glad we cleared that up. Carlton Cuse: OK, good. Now can we go back to "Outlaws" in Season 1? Damon Lindelof: I was gonna say, let’s now go back to Tabula Rasa in Season 1. When Rose and Jack are sitting on the beach, um, ok, let’s… we had a little bit of a revelation last week too, Carlton. Sawyer has a daughter, supposedly. Carlton Cuse: Indeed he does. Damon Lindelof: Named Clementine. Carlton Cuse: Clementine… it’s kinda a good name. Damon Lindelof: That’s your name, isn’t it? Carlton Cuse: Um… it actually is. Damon Lindelof: Most people don’t know that Carlton is his middle name. Carlton Cuse: It’s that alliteration, it’s Clementine Carlton Cuse. Damon Lindelof: Are we gonna be hearing any more about this Clementine character, in the future, perhaps? Carlton Cuse: I think by Season 16 of Lost, she will be an incredibly prominent character. Damon Lindelof: 16, alright, well, I’m not really doing anything until then, so… laughs … that's a compelling enough mystery… I can wait around until Clementine is 18 years old. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. Well, why don't you talk about Jack's storyline with the Others, and his attempt to save Colleen. What are the implications of her death, Damon? Damon Lindelof: That's a really good question, I mean… first off, you know, now an Other has died, and I always find it interesting, thinking about that episode, where Jack is so quick to help these people out after they've done to him, but—that's Jack for ya. Give him somebody to fix, and he will do it. What I think is a little more interesting… Carlton Cuse: I'd be a little nervous if Jack Shephard was the only doctor available to do surgery on me, though. His track record is not… he's not batting… he's kind of batting the same as a utility catcher for like, the Kansas City Royals. Damon Lindelof: He's good at bandaging, but when it comes to actual surgery, I think like Boone, and now Colleen… Carlton Cuse: It's sort of devastating. Damon Lindelof: …and almost every flashback story… he's probably got a hell of a malpractice history. Laughs I hope he has insurance. But in any case, now Colleen's dead, this was not in fact Jack's fault, but I think there'll probably y'know, two major outcomes of this event. The first is… Carlton Cuse: Well, Boone wasn't his fault either, but still. Damon Lindelof: Well. I dunno. I guess a very talented lawyer could make a case that it was Jack's fault. Carlton Cuse: That's true. Damon Lindelof: In any case, the two things being that first off, Jack seemed to take notice of these x-rays that were on the board outside. He grabs Juliet and says "Who'd you bring me over to save?" So, I'm sure our fans or non-fans are buzzing about whose x-rays those might be, and I think you'll be finding that out very soon. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. And the good thing is, because we have this six-episode pod in the fall, we'll actually be answering some of these questions before we disappear into our Spring season. Damon Lindelof: And the second aspect of Colleen's death is obviously, she's got a husband on the Island. Um, we know, this guy Pickett, who we've seen kiss her… Carlton Cuse: Oh yeah. Pickett's not happy that she was killed by Sun. Damon Lindelof: If my wife died, I'd be fairly upset about it. Carlton Cuse: You might seek some vengeance, wouldn't you? Damon Lindelof: I would definitely. I mean, he's already gone and beaten the holy tar out of Sawyer, and yelling at Kate, and all these things, so… that guy's still in play, so. Carlton Cuse: He's a very vengeance-kind of guy, I wouldn't want to cross him. Damon Lindelof: You sure wouldn't. Carlton Cuse: So let's talk a little bit about "The Cost of Living". Who's story is it? Damon Lindelof: Uh, it's Mr. Eko. Mr. Eko's story. Carlton Cuse: And of course, if you're listening to this podcast, you have also seen the promos that the network is doing, which make it clear that someone's going to die this week. Damon Lindelof: It's going to be one of those lame background characters, right? Carlton Cuse: Scott? Steve? Whichever one didn't die before? Damon Lindelof: Yeah, exactly. Carlton Cuse: Um… who is dead? Scott? Damon Lindelof: I think… Steve is dead. Carlton Cuse: Uh, ok. Then maybe it's Scott. Damon Lindelof: One of those guys. But is it going to be somebody lame like that? Carlton Cuse: Uh, I think that would be kind of a cop-out. Damon Lindelof: You're not answering the question. Carlton Cuse: No, I'm not answering the question. Damon Lindelof: Is it going to be… when you say "somebody's going to die," do you mean that it could be an Other? Or is it going to be one of our main people that we know and love? Carlton Cuse: My guess is that people will be pretty satisfied that… we are killing somebody significant. Damon Lindelof: Ok. Fair enough. Carlton Cuse: Good. Damon Lindelof: Although, I am a little unsatisfied with that answer. Carlton Cuse: Well, you'd be unsatisfied if I gave a more complete answer. It's kind of a porridge thing, my answer's either too much or too little, there's really no middle ground, is there? Damon Lindelof: I'd be satisfied if you gave me a back massage while you answered the question. Carlton Cuse: shuffling papers WOW. Alright… Damon Lindelof: Let's get to the questions! Carlton Cuse: Time to get to the questions here. Damon Lindelof: Play that music. flourish Carlton Cuse: Ok. You want to go first? Damon Lindelof: Yeah, Carlton. I wanna go first. Carlton Cuse: Awesome. Damon Lindelof: "Do you back up the decision for such a long break?" This is posted by "DePlaneBossDePlane". 53 posts in the last 90 days. "I'm a huge fan of the show, and I waited anxiously for the season premier. Which, by the way, was a very long wait. And then, to give us a tease of six episodes, and then turn around and take another 3 months off, just does not seem logical. I don't even remember.." Uh, sorry, "I don't ever remember this type of thing happening. It's like one of your coworkers taking a 15 minute break, and then going to lunch a half hour later." Laughs "Really annoying." Wow, I wonder what's happening at your office place, "DePlaneBossDePlane". "Will you run episodes consistently next season?" Carlton Cuse: No. Damon Lindelof: Alright. There you go! Carlton Cuse: I mean, the problem is, we only have—we can only physically make episodes 22-23 episodes a season, and there's 35 weeks in the television season, so…What would you have us do? Damon Lindelof: We can—we can mentally… Carlton Cuse: What would you have us do?? What is this person's name? Damon Lindelof: "DePlaneBossDePlane". Carlton Cuse: "DePlaneBoss"… well, put yourself in our shoes. Or maybe, just yourself. Damon Lindelof: Just put yourself in Carlton's shoes. I'm wearing mine. Carlton Cuse: You can put yourself in one of my shoes. Damon Lindelof: Alright, you can say that again. Laughs Carlton Cuse: But, it's hard. We don't really have… seems to us, the best of the three options. The three options being: regular repeats, which everyone was unhappy about, wait until January, and then run 22-23 episodes straight, which would mean six months between the end of Season 2 and Season 3, or have this little mini-season in the Fall, and then come back and run out episodes from February straight through the end of the television season. And, given those three choices, we opted for option number three. We though that was the best compromise, that allows us to keep our story momentum week after week. And if Lost is on, it's on, if it's not on, it's not on. And we embraced this idea in concert with ABC, and we think it's good. And only time will tell if we were right or if we were wrong. Damon Lindelof: And… this just in, time has told us that we were right. Carlton Cuse: Laughs Good, thank you. Damon Lindelof: Thank you, time! Carlton Cuse: Good, awesome. So, this question. This is a series of questions here, that I think you can address. From "StVideo", who's posted 175 times in the last… 3 hours. Damon Lindelof: Laughs "StVideo"? I wasn't aware video had been canonized. laughs Congratulations. Carlton Cuse: Actually, they're moving on to DVD now. There was a St. DVD. And pretty soon, there'll be a St. HD DVD. Damon Lindelof: Excellent. It's good that the saints are keeping up with the times. Carlton Cuse: The topic of the questions is "Polar bears". Damon Lindelof: Yes. Carlton Cuse: And there's a series of questions here: First one is… "Did the polar bears escape before or after the collapse of DHARMA?" Damon Lindelof: Wow, that's an excellent question. Should I just out-and-out answer it? Carlton Cuse: Yeah. Damon Lindelof: I would say during. I would say during the collapse of DHARMA. It's sort of like those lions that got out when the United States started dropping bombs on Baghdad. You heard about them, right? Carlton Cuse: Yeah. Damon Lindelof: The Baghdad Zoo got bombed, and all…there were like lions wandering around when we came in. So, that's sort of like what I would reckon would happen with the polar bears. Carlton Cuse: Where was the bombing though? Damon Lindelof: I'm not going to tell you, though. I'm not going to imply that there was a bombing. Carlton Cuse: Alright, alright. Damon Lindelof: There might have been a bombing. I'm sort of bombing right now. Laughs Carlton Cuse: Alright. You're doing ok. Damon Lindelof: Alright. Carlton Cuse: For a small audience. Laughs Damon Lindelof: Were there any follow-up questions? Laughs Carlton Cuse: Yes, there were. "Did the bears' escape cause the fall of DHARMA?" Damon Lindelof: Laughs Uh, no. There was… it was the result of the collapse of DHARMA, I think. Carlton Cuse: Ok, two more questions… Damon Lindelof: I'm glad I'm answering these. Carlton Cuse: These are good. There's no beating around the bush when it comes to these questions. "How many DHARMA people did the bears eat?" Damon Lindelof: "How many DHARMA people did the bears eat?"… Well, all of the bears, in total? Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: Um. Do children count? Carlton Cuse: Um. Well, yes, children count as a whole person. Damon Lindelof: As a whole person, then the bears "ate"… if it eats just your leg, and then you survive, does that count for anything? Carlton Cuse: Uh… no. You actually have to be… Damon Lindelof: Digested. Carlton Cuse: You have to be dead from being eaten. Damon Lindelof: Killed and bitten by the bears. Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: Sarcastic 19. Carlton Cuse: 19, ok. Damon Lindelof: Wait, 20. Carlton Cuse: Right, there's that other guy. Damon Lindelof: 20 people. Carlton Cuse: Yeah. Damon Lindelof: So far. Carlton Cuse: Kyle. laugh Um, "Is Ben mean and evil because the bears stole his toy truck when he was a kid?" Damon Lindelof: Um… wow, interesting theory. That I’m not gonna answer. Carlton Cuse: OK. Damon Lindelof: Except to say… No. and Damon laugh Carlton Cuse: Alright. Damon Lindelof: Alright. Thanks for that series of questions. Carlton Cuse: You’re more than welcome. Damon Lindelof: Hey Carlton, just quickly, because we might not have been as clear about this as we could have been, did Jae jump or was he thrown? By “LaylaRed”: “Did Jae jump or was he thrown? Because jumpers usually jump face first…” laughs OK, first off, before Carlton answers this, Layla, I want you to know that people care about you, and they love you, and that you are an important person. Carlton Cuse: We love you, Layla, and don’t even think about jumping. Damon Lindelof: Face first. laugh Carlton Cuse: Face first, especially. Damon Lindelof: If you’re gonna do it, do it like Jae did it. Carlton Cuse: Yeah, jump with your ass first! Damon Lindelof: Yeah, cannon-ball style! laugh Carlton Cuse: Much better for windshield impact. Damon Lindelof: Alright, so, I just had to get that out there. My actual question was this: “I have two quick queries,” um. Carlton Cuse: Wow. Damon Lindelof: This is also from “LaylaRed”: “If the Hatch imploded, how were all the people blown out? Carlton Cuse: Well, in the laws of physics, such as they exist in the world of Lost, the implosion created a vacuum, and, as the air came in to fill that vacuum, it rapidly heated and expanded, causing an explosion, so, it was sort of a thermo-dynamic incident in which an implosion was followed by a subsequent explosion. Damon Lindelof: Also, Carlton’s hair is blown out right now. laughs This question, another quick question, from “NinjaJeff”. Carlton Cuse: Sure. Damon Lindelof: “Yes or No: Does Kate love Sawyer?” Carlton Cuse: in mid-question Yes. Damon Lindelof: Well, there you go. Carlton Cuse: I didn’t even have to hear the whole question; I knew it was a yes. Damon Lindelof: Excellent. Alright, those are my two quick questions. Carlton Cuse: Awesome. Um.. Damon Lindelof: She said she did… Carlton Cuse: OK, now, here’s a person, named, er, “Vardavar”, who’s posted 15055 times. Damon Lindelof: Wow. Carlton Cuse: “The four wise monkeys who can be viewed here,” and then he has a website address that leads to... Damon Lindelof: You’re assuming it’s a he… Carlton Cuse: Yes, that’s true. Or she. Anyway, you look at those four wise monkeys, “Does this have anything to do with whatever happened in the Hatch, the explosion, or the philosophy of it? Locke can’t speak, Charlie is deaf in one ear, Desmond is naked, and Eko, well, if it follows this, will be partially blind or fully blind, or if not, my theory is incorrect. I have just come up with this, and there are still two hours left till the show airs. Mr. Cuse and Damon…” I like the fact that I’m Mr. Cuse and you’re just Damon. Damon Lindelof: That doesn’t surprise me that you like that fact. laughs Mr Cuse. Carlton Cuse: “Am I right? And does it have anything to do with the four characters during the explosion? Does this confirm that there is a philosophical reference to ‘See No Evil, Spear No Evil…’”, I’m sorry, “’See no Evil, Speak no Evil, Hear no Evil…’” Damon Lindelof: And Spear no Evil. laugh Carlton Cuse: What is the fourth one?! … And be naked? “If anybody can answer this…” Damon Lindelof: Wear no evil! Carlton Cuse: “…Cool, just thought it was interesting to bring up.” No, serious, they’re See, Speak and Hear so what’s the… We don’t have time to look that up on Monkey Picture right now... Damon Lindelof: Right... Carlton Cuse: But I assume it’s gonna be a naked monkey. Damon Lindelof: Well, interestingly enough, Charlie was not involved in the direct explosion of the Hatch. Because he came back at the end of the finale. His ears are sort of ringing, I guess. He's not really deaf. Carlton Cuse: What? Damon Lindelof: Pause That's good. And, Eko will not wake up blind when he wakes up. And Locke is temporarily mute. And I still don't know what Desmond being naked has to do with anything. So… while it is an incredibly interesting and well-thought out theory, it's one I'd have to say… holds no water. Carlton Cuse: Right. Damon Lindelof: I have one more question for you, Carlton. This is from "Boxclocke". "The show has gotten a lot of positive attention for the diversity of its cast, and deservedly so. I was wondering if there was any chance that the show could be getting a gay character, or that one of those great gut-punch-didn't-see-it-coming-flashbacks will "out" one of the current characters. Carlton Cuse: Yeah, I think there is a good possibility that… you know, that we will discover one of the characters is gay on the show. Damon Lindelof: Like to say, if I was a betting man? 5-1? Carlton Cuse: Uh… 4-1! Damon Lindelof: 4-1. Those are good odds. Carlton Cuse: Pretty good odds. Damon Lindelof: Alright, thanks. Carlton Cuse: So let me ask you one more question, Damon, and then we'll be on to… Damon Lindelof: Sarcastic Be actually, working on the show? Carlton Cuse: We're going back to the writer's room. We're in the middle of breaking… Damon Lindelof: Episode 10. Carlton Cuse: Episode 10 right now. Which we're… very excited about. Hurley. Damon Lindelof: And that's an exclusive for you. Carlton Cuse: An exclusive here, Hurley flashback. Damon Lindelof: Hurley flashback. Carlton Cuse: By "Joserkynd". K-Y-N-D. "Damon and Carlton, congratulations on the new season… so far." laughs "It has far exceeded my expectations. However, I have a few questions I would like answered." Damon Lindelof: Excellent. Carlton Cuse: "Supposedly, the character Scott died in the episode, 'Homecoming'. However, closer inspection reveals that it was actually Steve's body that was found, and Scott still appeared on the series in Season 2. Why do all the survivors except Sawyer and Ana Lucia still think it was Scott who died, and will this have some payoff later, or is it just an extension of the gag?" Damon Lindelof: The latter. It's just an extension of the gag. In fact, I think Scott is dead and Steve is alive. But for some reason, that part of your brain that just cannot wrap your brain around something, just… I cannot remember. Carlton Cuse: In fact, there was actually some confusion, because when the two actors who played Scott and Steve were informed that one of them was dying, they each claimed to be portraying the actor that was living. Damon Lindelof: Right, in the script, for example, they find Steve's body, and both of them said "I'm Scott!" laugh Because we had never named them. Carlton Cuse: And we were struggling, we actually thought we knew who was Scott and who was Steve, but we really didn't, and in fact… then we got into a huge thing, we got the dailies back, and it was still hard to determine who was Scott and who was Steve. Damon Lindelof: Then we gave each actor a rock, and then we said, "Whoever's left standing gets to be Scott." Carlton Cuse: That's right. So one of them died, but we don't know which one! Laughs Damon Lindelof: We don't know which one. So… that's the true story. Carlton Cuse: Ok. So that was a very candid answer to number one, there's just two more. "Was the turbine man from the Pilot Gary Troup, author of Bad Twin?" Damon Lindelof: Yes. Carlton Cuse: It was indeed. Damon Lindelof: And considering that I have now read Bad Twin, Laughs Gary Troup got exactly what he deserved. laughs Next! Carlton Cuse: When will more of the background cast get their moments in the spotlight? Damon Lindelof: Interesting. We saw two characters at the end of the third episode, the Locke-flashback-story, who were just sort of there as they were coming back into camp. We'll learn their names as time goes on… Carlton Cuse: You mean Paulo and Nikki? Damon Lindelof: Laughs Or… you could learn them right now. That's another way to go. But sort of, you know, whenever we're introducing new characters on the show, out of the cast of characters that have 'been there all along', it's sort of a tricky and ingratiating process. Like with Dr. Arzt, we had to… we just sort of went for it. And there he was, giving a big speech. But obviously, you haven't seen these characters before. There they are, and we might be seeing a little bit more this week in episode five. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll see both Paulo and Nikki. I think that, looking forward into the season, you might be sort of curious as to…what have all those characters been up to all this time? And what do they do when Jack and Kate and Sawyer are going off on their adventures… or arguing about the button or capturing the Others, or dealing with Rousseau and getting the baby stolen. What is everybody else up to? And that's pretty much… Carlton Cuse: That might make a good episode. Damon Lindelof: That would make a good episode. I would watch that episode. Carlton Cuse: I would too. Damon Lindelof: We'd better watch it, because we're going to write it. Carlton Cuse: Excellent. Well guys. We've enjoyed this. We hope you have, too. Damon Lindelof: You can stop rubbing my back now. Carlton Cuse: Laughs And… we'll see you, next week? For more exciting adventures. Damon Lindelof: I guess we've only got one more podcast to go, really? Carlton Cuse: Well, we could keep doing podcasts about Daybreak. Damon Lindelof: That'd be cool. Carlton Cuse: We could just keep coming here, and we'll just talk about Daybreak. Damon Lindelof: Is that legal? laughs We could just answer questions about Daybreak however we chose to? Carlton Cuse: Exactly, that'd be awesome. We could just make up our own versions of the mythology. Damon Lindelof: That'd probably be pretty awesome for anyone who's not watching Daybreak. But anyone who is watching Daybreak would probably be confused. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. But hopefully we'll be watching a few little tantalizing tidbits of Lost that will be sprinkled into the Fall, after we're off the air. There's going to be some promos and probably some podcasts. Mobisodes. Damon Lindelof: 13 weeks is a long time to be away. That's how long people had to wait for the season premier… so. But you'll be rewarded with 17 fresh episodes of Lost. Or… 16. Carlton Cuse: Wow, you're excited about that, aren't you. Damon Lindelof: Laughs I'm so excited I could sleep. Carlton Cuse: Alright, back to work, we love you guys, we'll talk to you soon. Damon Lindelof: Bye. Carlton Cuse: Bye. [Ending Lost theme] Kris White: That concludes this podcast. Join us next week for a preview on "The Cost of Living". And a preview of the last episode of the first part of the first part of Season 3. Don't forget, if you find yourself in need of more Lost content, check out the website at lost.abc.com, where you can also submit your own fan questions. "The Cost of Living" airs Wednesday, November 1st from 9-10 PM, only on ABC. Category:Official Podcasts